Educating Miss Everdeen
by Aeneid
Summary: AU. Primrose Everdeen is reaching a rather difficult age and is failing in school. Peeta Mellark comes to her aid, and Katniss is not amused with someone barging in their lives.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own The Hunger Games. It belongs to Suzanne Collins.

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**Educating Ms. Everdeen**

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Chapter 1

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"I've never been so disappointed in you."

As soon as two girls left the classroom, it was the older girl with raven hair tied up in a braid that uttered the words. Her gray-colored eyes were staring down at the younger one who was blonde and blue-eyed. Onlookers wouldn't believe at first sight that the two of them were sisters, but on a closer look, the shape of the younger one's face resembled her sister's.

Primrose Everdeen kept her gaze on the floor. "I already said I was sorry—"

"'Sorry' isn't enough. And how are _you_ going to pull up your grades?" exasperation was evident in her words, knowing that it never took a miracle to pull up bad grades. Prim still had three years of her high school life to make up for it, but Katniss Everdeen didn't want her little sister regretting anything because of wrong priorities.

'_Grades wouldn't have gotten low only if Prim remembered that school was much more important than socializing and making friends.'_ Katniss thought angrily, remembering the angry D- on her sister's Math and Science subjects. The highest was a C, and it was Physical Education, though Katniss thought Prim should've done better and gotten a B. Nevertheless, her sister's homeroom teacher, Ms. Effie Trinket, had talked to Katniss about her sister's academic problems.

Prim didn't say anything as to why she was having 'problems', but Katniss was suspecting there was more to the socialization, yet still couldn't figure anything out.

"I already have a tutor."

The statement interrupted her thoughts, and gray eyes narrowed at the last word. "It's not Rory, is it?" Katniss asked, referring to Prim's classmate and male best friend. At the shake of Prim's head, her sister knew she was out of ideas. "Not Madge?"

"Not even close. It's Peeta Mellark."

Automatically, the older of the two stared at Prim in shock. "What!" a boy? What the hell was she thinking, asking a boy, a senior at that, to help her out? Katniss _did_ feel a bit hurt that her sister didn't even ask for her help, but to ask a stranger…

Prim nodded. "I'm going over to his house later for—" before she could even continue, Katniss had glared at her. "What? I'm just going to his house! It's not like we're going to do something!"

Instead of quelling Katniss' anger, it added more fuel. "Who does he think he is, asking a freshman to go to his house?" at this, Prim rolled her eyes, knowing that Katniss was, as usual, overreacting.

"Katniss, I'm the one asking for help… it's not polite to demand him to go over to our place."

Still glaring at Prim, she marched off to the open field of their school in search of a blond, blue-eyed senior.

'_He and I need to have a talk.'_

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Peeta Mellark.

Katniss Everdeen has thought of his name so many times while she stomped her way to the school grounds, heading off to the football field. She knew who he was, of course. They had been classmates since their freshman year, which was odd, considering that she didn't really notice him until Prim mentioned his name. Sure, he was a classmate, but they hadn't been assigned as partners or groupmates for anything academic-related. Besides, he was a social animal who got along with their fellow batchmates while she was content with having Madge Undersee as her friend, and only talked with others if there was a need to do so.

They really were total opposites, now that she thought about it well.

Peeta had always been an outstanding student. He had always been a straight-A student, and he was a member of three clubs, namely the Visual Arts Club, the Homemakers' Club (he was the only male in the club, though everyone stopped laughing when he served them cake and various pastries during a class party) and the Honors Society. No one could ever accuse him of being 'all brains, no brawn', for he was the Team Captain of the Football varsity team, and was very athletic. If Katniss was to believe the rumors, he had quite a 'nice body'.

Not that she needed to know the last part…

Seeing the players in the field wearing the school's trademark red and black colors in their football gear made her stop and scan for any blond-haired player, and when she did find him, she started stomping her way towards his direction…

… Only to get hit straight at her forehead with the ball.

"Oh my gosh, Katniss!" for some reason, Madge, her best friend, was in the football field as well and was right at her side immediately. "Hang on, I'll get some ice!"

'_I knew I shouldn't have gone here. I seek him out and I get hit by a damn ball!'_ slowly, she tried to lift her head, but her vision kept on spinning. "Ugh…" a moan of pain escaped her lips and she just closed her eyes, wishing that the pain on her forehead would subside.

She drifted off for several minutes before a pack of ice made her eyes snap open from the cold. The person hovering above her noticed her wincing. "Feeling any better…?"

Katniss blinked a few more times before noticing a pair of concerned blue eyes staring back at her. "Katniss, how many fingers am I holding up?"

This annoyed her immediately as soon as she realized it was Peeta Mellark. "What the heck to you think—" she started, but was drowned out by Madge.

"I think she needs to go to the clinic. Peeta, can you help?"

"What? No, I'm fine!" she practically screamed out loud. "I just… need help getting up…" Katniss willed herself to fight off the dizziness she was experiencing and was trying to make her world stop spinning so much. Unsteady legs made her veer left and right, and before she could hit the ground, it was Peeta who caught her in his arms when she was about to fall on her backside.

"Hey, stop moving. We need to get you to the clinic." Before she could utter a word of protest, he had swept her off her feet and carried her in his arms. At this, Katniss began flailing like mad, wanting to both get off and to relieve herself of the pain on her head. Of course she wanted to head off to the clinic, but not with _him_ carrying her!

Was he out to embarrass her in front of the whole school?

"I can manage on my own, Mellark." She said in a harsh tone, hoping to dissuade him. Her attempt to jump off his arms was unsuccessful when he firmly gripped both her upper arm and the back of her right knee, pressing her against his chest for good measure.

"At least let me bring you there." He said, unfazed by her hostility.

"Peeta!" before the two teenagers knew, Prim was running towards them, nearly out of breath. "Katniss, why did you run off? I was looking for you! And… why are you in Peeta's arms?" no one seemed to notice Prim's shock at the sight of her unsocial sister in the arms of one of the most handsome seniors in school.

Not to mention the knowing smirk aimed at Peeta.

Madge spoke up for the both of them. "Katniss got hit by the ball… Peeta was about to bring her to the clinic for a quick check-up."

"Come on, let's hurry!" Prim grabbed Peeta's left arm and nearly dragged the poor boy behind her. Madge followed suit, wanting to make sure that her best friend would be okay. As for Katniss, she covered her face, totally embarrassed that the loner ended up in the arms of the most popular boy in senior year. She was still dizzy from the hit that she sustained, but embarrassment outweighed the pain this time around, and all she wanted was for the ground to swallow her whole.

'_Just fantastic. All I want is to tell him off, and I get to spend more time with him than necessary.'_

She was at least thankful that there were hardly any students left in the grounds who would see her predicament.

Her pride was still intact.

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They were lucky that the school doctor was still on-duty when they arrived. After ruling out the possibility of a concussion or any other injuries sustained from the accident, Dr. Aurelius informed Katniss to stay put for at least thirty minutes in the infirmary before going home, then went back to his desk. Quite the gentleman, Peeta carried her a second time around, much to Prim and Madge's delight (and to Katniss' frustration), and placed her at one of the empty beds. The younger Everdeen secured an ice pack from one of the nurses and placed it once more on her sister's forehead, who winced.

"It's not that bad though, Katniss." Prim reassured her. "I mean, this one is _nothing_ compared to the softball incident a few years ago… right, Madge?"

Madge was a member of the softball varsity of the school, and the incident that Prim referred to was actually the time when she and Katniss became friends. "At least this time, you only got hit once… and not three times!" she giggled, remembering the incident.

"S-stop reminding me." The fact that the two were embarrassing her in front of a stranger was making her head hurt further. "And cut it out. Not in front of… not in front of _him_."

Peeta has the grace to blush in embarrassment. "Uh, anyway… I need to get back. Primrose, I think we should cancel the tutorial for today. Your sister isn't well, and she might need your help…" at this, Prim's smile faltered slightly, but the next statement shocked them all.

"Mellark can just go to our house. That way, Prim can watch over me while you tutor her." Katniss says before she could stop herself.

The look on her younger sister's face said it all. Doubt was written all over her face, as if she was waiting for Katniss to take back what she had just said. Prim knew that when Katniss had already made up her mind, there was no turning back. Surely, what the older Everdeen girl said was both surprising and intriguing. She was willing to have a stranger, a _male_ at that, into their home…?

Inwardly wincing at what she had just said, she hastily exclaims to clarify her sudden change of heart, "I want her to pass the math and science exams for this quarter, and you'd better not cancel _any_ of those scheduled tutorials just because you want to!" _Nice save, Katniss._ Snarky, but at least her point was made.

Peeta raised a hand to the back of his neck, as if uncomfortable with the turn of events. "Oh, uh, sure, Katniss. Uh, I guess I'll see you at seven in the evening, Prim."

"Isn't seven a bit late?" Katniss asked once more in her snarky tone.

"I, uh, still have varsity practice until six, and I need to prepare the stuff for the tutorial… I'll be there earlier if I can, I promise." He still felt uncomfortable at the way Katniss addressed him, but knew better than to piss her off further. True, it wasn't his fault that she got hurt, but since he was captain, he was responsible for his teammates' actions. Add to that with him suddenly canceling the tutorial session with her little sister, and it was enough to be targeted by Katniss Everdeen's animosity.

Her reply was a shrug. "As long as you don't leave Prim waiting."

"I won't. Anyway, I really have to go." To Madge, he smiles gratefully while cautiously eyes Katniss, who was now scowling at him from the bed. After bidding all of them a goodbye, he flashed a quick smile at Katniss before heading back to the football field.

As soon as he was out of earshot, a knowing grin made its way to her blonde best friend's face. "So, Peeta, huh?"

"Shut it, Madge."

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Seriously, I have no idea what I'm doing. First fanfic for this fandom, and this was a request fic made by my friend for the fandom. Also, I'm not familiar with the secondary school system in the US so I took the liberty of patterning it after the high school system I'm used to.

I'll finish this fic, whatever it takes. I hope I didn't mess up with the characterization.

Tell me what you think of chapter 1 in the review section!


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